Tilak Varma was the star for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in their ongoing IPL 2026 clash against the Gujarat Titans (GT) on April 20, 2026, which is being played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. GT captain Shubman Gill won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Kagiso Rabada gave GT the best start by removing Quinton de Kock (13), Danish Malewar (2), and Suryakumar Yadav (15) with MI’s score on 44 runs inside 6 overs. But then Naman Dhir (45) and Tilak Varma steadied the ship, before Dhir was dismissed by Prasidh Krishna.

Tilak, on the other hand, was very slow off the blocks, scoring just 19 off the first 22 balls he faced. Then, during the strategic timeout, Tilak Varma received a serious pep talk from MI captain Hardik Pandya.

But he scored 82 runs in the next 23 deliveries. He hit eight fours and seven sixes throughout his innings. It's unclear what Pandya said, but Varma's destructive side was obviously set off by something.

Tilak remained unbeaten on 101 in 45 balls, drawing level with Sanath Jayasuriya for the fastest IPL ton by an MI batter. Jayasuriya was the first MI batter to hit a ton in IPL, in the 2008 edition against Chennai Super Kings, and had reached the milestone in 45 balls as well.